Sofia Vergara's Ex Nick Loeb Allowed to File New Complaint in Court

by Emily Krauser
1:35 PM PDT, May 22, 2015

Photo: Getty Images

Nick Loeb refuses to back down and now, he and Sofia Vergara are heading back to court.

Vergara's ex was granted permission today to file an amended lawsuit allowing him to seek custody of the two female embryos that were created from his sperm and Vergara's eggs while they were still in a relationship.

The revised complaint is the first time Loeb is seeking custody, and the paperwork includes a new claim that Vergara, 42, breached an oral agreement to create the embryos and bring them to term via a surrogate. "He does believe they are his daughters," Loeb's lawyer Christina Goodrich explained on Tuesday.

Today, Vergara's lawyer Fred Silberberg told the Santa Monica, Calif., court that Goodrich took too long to file this argument. "[The] plaintiff is using this lawsuit to continue to attack [Vergara] in the press and continue to have his own visibility in the press," he said.

As Vergara and Loeb signed a consent form that required they both have to agree before anything can be done with the embryos, Silberberg added, "There is no legal issue."

Silberberg also made a statement in court that is the opposite of Loeb's stance and sure to have pro-life advocates up in arms: "Embryos are not children."

When the 39-year-old businessman originally sued Vergara in August 2014, it was to ensure that the actress did not destroy the embryos. Through her lawyers, the Colombian-born actress has explained that she doesn't want to use or destroy them but simply leave them frozen.

Loeb is pulling out all the stops in this complicated battle. According to People, court documents state that he was abused by Vergara during their relationship. He claims the Modern Family star "physically abused him on four separate occasions: she punched him in the face on two occasions, kicked him and threw her phone at this head" as well as "routinely bullied him" emotionally.

While last year's complaint was filed anonymously, this new lawsuit will cite both Loeb and Vergara's names. In April, Loeb claimed he wanted to keep the matter private but penned an op-ed for The New York Times once the story broke. "It has gotten attention not only because of the people involved… but also because embryonic custody disputes raise important questions about life, religion and parenthood," he wrote.

Loeb and Vergara began dating in 2010, got engaged in July 2012 and split for good in May 2014. While still together, they tried to conceive using a surrogate. When two attempts failed, two additional embryos were created, and those are what’s at the center of the source of the lawsuit. Vergara is now engaged to Magic Mike XXL star Joe Manganiello.

Watch Vergara explain her side of the case to Good Morning America in the video below: